I have never sex-texted, says club hostess who denies claims of affair with Tiger Woods as police seek to quiz him over crash

The couple allegedly rowed over claims Woods had an affair with nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel

Tiger Woods was due to be interviewed by police today following allegations that he crashed his 4x4 after an argument with his wife, who was said to have attacked the vehicle with a golf club.

The 33-year-old golf superstar’s Cadillac Escalade struck a fire hydrant before hitting a tree near his Florida villa at 2.25am on Friday.

His representatives have described it as a minor accident. But leading Hollywood website TMZ claimed Woods’s Swedish-born wife, Elin Nordegren, told authorities the crash followed a row over ‘a domestic issue’.

‘Tiger gave the same story to authorities at the hospital where he was treated,’ TMZ said.

The row allegedly began when Elin, 29, confronted him over lurid claims
– published last week in the tabloid National Enquirer and celebrity
magazine Star – that he had romantic liaisons in the US and Australia
with New York nightclub hostess and party planner Rachel Uchitel, 34.

TMZ claimed Elin scratched his face before he dashed out of their waterfront mansion and drove away.

‘We’re
told ... his wife followed behind with a golf club,’ the website said.
‘As Tiger drove away, she struck the vehicle several times with the
club.’

The golfer allegedly crashed after becoming ‘distracted’ by the blows.

The Cadillac, which suffered damage estimated at £5,000, is understood to have been impounded by investigators.

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Tiger Woods' car hit a fire hydrant before crashing into this tree belonging to a neighbour

According
to TMZ, Woods has been taking prescription pain medication, ‘which
could explain why he seemed somewhat out of it at the scene’, the
website claimed.

Police have not commented directly on the reports, which were posted on the internet late on Friday.

Officers first attempted to interview the golfer, thought to be worth about £500million, when he returned from hospital.

They were told he was asleep and to come back yesterday, but were
then informed that he would again be unavailable and they should try
today.

Daniel Saylor, police chief in the town of Windermere where
Woods lives, said: ‘His wife had broken out the back window with a golf
club to get into the vehicle and pull him out. She used two golf clubs.
She bent one and used another one.

‘She was frantic. She supposedly got him out and laid him on the ground.

A copy of the official police report into Tiger Woods' mysterious crash outside his home in Florida shows that 'charges are pending'

Argument? The golfer and his wife, who reportedly helped rescue him from his
crashed car by smashing the back window with a golf club

‘When [police] got there, they noticed he had lacerations to his lower and upper lip and blood in his mouth and he was in and out of consciousness. They were holding him down because he kept trying to get up.’

Yesterday morning, Elin was seen driving away from the couple’s £24 million villa in a silver 4x4, her eyes shaded by large sunglasses. She ignored requests for comment.

Her father, Thomas Nordegren, also refused to discuss the accident, saying: ‘I don’t want to go into that.’

A spokeswoman for her mother, Barbro Holmberg, said the matter was ‘private’.

The couple met while Elin was the au pair to the children of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik.

Home: The mansion where Woods and his wife live in Isleworth, Florida

Their wedding in October 2004 on the Caribbean island of Barbados was estimated to have cost £1 million and had 120 VIP guests, including talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey.

The couple’s first child, a daughter, Sam, was born in June 2007 and in February they had a son, Charlie.

However, stories in the latest editions of the National Enquirer and Star claim Tiger has been having an affair with Ms Uchitel, who allegedly exchanged sexually-charged text messages with him and travelled to Melbourne, Australia, to meet him on November 12. A photograph showed her checking into the hotel where he was allegedly staying.

Speaking from her Manhattan apartment, Rachel told The Mail on Sunday that she and Woods are strictly platonic ‘friends’.

She said they met last summer, while she was working at a Las Vegas nightclub, adding that she was in Melbourne on a business trip and did not see him there.

‘We are just friends,’ she said. ‘God forbid Tiger got into a car wreck because of this false report of him having an affair. Despite it being completely untrue, it still must have caused problems at home – if I was his wife, I would have killed him.

‘Part of my job involves dealing with very rich and often very famous men who come to the clubs. I am in charge of greeting them.

‘I was introduced to Tiger when he came to the club in Vegas [and] met him . . . on a couple or so occasions, but I have never sex texted in my life.

‘They say I went to the desk and was given a key to Tiger’s room [in Melbourne] and then I just got in the lift and went straight to the VIP floor. That’s crazy. A girl can’t just arrive in a hotel lobby and get given a key to Tiger Woods’s room.’

Tiger Woods’s lawyers also denied the allegation of an affair.

Tiger with son Charlie, daughter Sam, wife Elin and their two dogs

A friend of Woods said last night it was not unusual for the star to take late-night drives because he requires only ‘four or five hours’ sleep’.

Windermere residents told The Mail on Sunday that one of his haunts is the Blue Martini nightclub, about eight miles from his home.

An employee said: ‘I see Tiger sometimes. He likes this place because it’s casual. I never see him drinking much alcohol. He is always in the VIP area and he usually comes with male friends. His wife is very pretty, but I’ve never seen her with him.’

Woods won the most recent of his 14 major championships at the US Open in 2008. He then underwent reconstructive knee surgery but has made a successful comeback on the US Tour, winning six titles this year.

He is set to host the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, on Thursday, but last night his agent Mark Steinberg, of International Management Group, said he did not know if his client would play.

Mr Steinberg did not respond to any other questions from The Mail on Sunday.